If
by Arrows the Wolf
Summary: Fred is alive! He just had a severe concussion, and was in a coma! And now, as he awakes, he finds a girl named Rachael, who has apparently been taking care of him. Is she the one? Read to find out!
1. Prologue

**If**

_All he could feel was the pain. He remembered the wall falling. Before he descended into unconsciousness, he heard Percy calling out his name. _I'm all right, _he wanted to tell him. He wouldn't leave Percy right after Percy had come back to the family. But it was too late for Fred to call out. The blackness washed over him, and he felt no more._

* * *

><p>The first impression he got was that it was very bright.<p>

He hadn't even opened his eyes, and he knew that wherever he was was very well lit.

Fred opened his eyes a crack. He took in the white room, and the beds that were to the side of him. He knew where he was then. He was at the hospital wing at Hogwarts.

Now he fully opened his eyes. His head hurt. Actually, all of his body hurt. He tried to stretch, but he found that he was much too stiff to even turn his head. What had happened to him?

And then Fred remembered. He had been fighting in the battle, and then some Death Eater had collapsed a wall on him. Dimly he wondered which Death Eater it had been.

Then a girl came bustling up. "Oh, good, you're awake." she said, smiling at him.

Fred couldn't help noticing that she was very pretty.

"What was wrong with me?" he asked.

"You had a very severe concussion." the girl told him. "It put you in a coma."

"Oh," was all he said. He was quiet for a minute, and then asked yet another question. "Did we win?"

The girl nodded. "Yes. Harry Potter took out Voldemort about two hours after you were knocked unconscious."

Fred smiled. He had always known Harry could do it. "Is my family waiting for me?" he wondered aloud, then blushed when he realized he had said it out loud.

The girl laughed. "Yes, they're outside. Would you like me to go get them?"

He nodded. As she turned to leave, he called out to her "What's your name?"

She turned back to him. "Rachael. Rachael Smith."


	2. Chapter One

**If**

**Chapter One**

Fred was mending quickly, thanks to Madame Pomfrey's potions and Rachael's healing charms. From the amount of time he spent with Rachael nowadays, he learned that Rachael was a nineteen year old American witch, who had moved to Europe because of a job opportunity at St. Mungo's. Apparently Rachael was an extremely talented Healer, but couldn't find a job anywhere in America that suited her skills in Healing. So she moved to Europe and found a job at St. Mungo's.

Fred came to enjoy the moments he spent with Rachael. Often times he found himself thinking about her when he was alone.

_Am I falling for her? _He wondered on the tenth time he caught himself thinking about her.

Days passed, and finally Fred was able to get out of the hospital. He and George went off to the lake many times, and he enjoyed joking around with Percy, Charlie, and Bill. Ron and Hermione he didn't see much of, but according to George that was because they were "Off snogging and doing things that couples do."

One piece of news that almost had Fred back in the hospital wing was that Harry and Ginny were dating. However, after a "talk" with Harry, Fred felt much better and was able to tease the rather shy couple.

Secretly though, even a secret to himself, although he did realize it from time to time, that Fred was jealous of Harry and Ginny. He wanted to have his own girlfriend. All of his brothers (minus Charlie and Percy) were either married or going out. Ron had Hermione, and George had Angelina Johnson. But Fred had no one.

Later Fred learned that Percy was going after a girl named Audrey. That made him subconsciously even more determined to get a girlfriend. The problem- he didn't know who he wanted.

Several days later, after going back to the Burrow, Fred realized who he wanted. It was Rachael, it had always been Rachael. He just had to be away from her for a while to know it.

So Fred began making plans to go see her. He knew that she was still at Hogwarts tending to the patients there. The Weasleys were going back to Hogwarts to help the rebuilding process. He could sneak away at breaks to go and try to win Rachael.

There was a complication to the plan. Ever since waking up after the battle, Fred had been in the unbreakable habit of saying his thoughts aloud, even if he didn't realize it. Another problem was that he had been having dreams about Rachael, and George had asked him one morning who his "darling girl" was.

Fred, who had been thinking about the dream George had just asked him about, flushed and stuttered some nonsense. Bill, of course, chose that moment to walk in along with Charlie and Percy.

"What's all this stuttering?" Bill asked, grinning as he sat down to eat.

"I asked him about his 'darling girl' that he was talking about last night in his sleep." George answered, smirking.

"'Darling girl', eh?" Charlie grinned even wider than George. "So, who is it?"

Fred flushed an even brighter red, and stuttered even worse than before. "G-g-george m-m-m-m-must have b-b-b-been h-hearing th-things in h-his s-s-s-sleep."

"Your face and massive stuttering says different." said Percy, joining in on the conversation. "Who is it?"

"I don't have to tell you anything." Fred said, wishing he could just disappear.

"C'mon, tell us!"

"No."

"Is it Alicia Spinnet?"

"No."

"Katie Bell?"

"No."

"Parvati Patil?"

"No."

At that point Hermione and Ron ambled in. "So, what are we doing?" Ron asked, yawning.

"We're interrogating Fred to find out who his 'darling girl' is." George told Ron.

"Isn't it obvious?" said Hermione.

"No, because we would have figured it out by now." Charlie said, frowning.

"Then boys must really be blind. It's Rachael Smith, the Healer from St. Mungo's at Hogwarts."


	3. Chapter Two

**If**

**Chapter Two**

Fred was shocked, to say the least. He had thought that he had been keeping his affections for Rachael on the dark side of the light. So how had Hermione known?

"H-how did you know?" he asked, completely forgetting his brothers were in the room.

George grinned from ear to ear. "So it's true? The Fred Weasley has fallen for the Healer at Hogwarts?"

"No…"

"Fred, you just admitted it." Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"I know."

"Then you're one step closer to being ready to ask Rachael out."

"How?" Fred said, bewildered.

"You're going to suffer from the humiliation of your brothers, little bro." Bill said, smirking. "Trust me, that's twice as bad as getting turned down by a girl."

"So you're saying that you think Rachael's going to turn me down."

"No, that's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that being teased by us is worse than being turned down by Rachael. If you can survive us teasing you, then you will have no problem asking out a girl."

"And how exactly is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"It's not. Let the teasing commence!"

It was now four hours later, and Fred was gearing up for his big moment. He had survived the teasing, and Charlie had even said that he had been much better at comebacks than all the other brothers. That helped to boost Fred's confidence just a teeny bit.

He was waiting at the edge of the lake, where he had asked Rachael to meet him on her break. Even now, he could see her figure walking down towards him.

_This was a bad idea. _Fred told himself. _She's going to turn you down. You know it._

Then the other, more optimistic side of him took control. _You brought her lunch, and you know her pretty well already, and she knows you fairly well. Just ask her at the end of lunch if everything goes well._

Before Fred had a chance to answer himself, Rachael was there in front of him, grinning, obviously happy to see him.

"Sit down." he invited. "It's your break; you shouldn't have to eat standing up."

Rachael laughed, and sat down to enjoy her lunch with Fred.

Looking back on it, Fred decided, it was a very nice lunch. He had learned that Rachael was a fraternal twin, and had a brother back in the States. In addition, Fred had a very long conversation about pranks with Rachael, for as it turned out Rachael was a prankster too.

In turn, Rachael found out that Fred ran Weasley's Wizard Wheezes with George, and had a massive fear of peach fuzz. **(A/N Some people are actually terrified of peach fuzz, can you imagine?) **

At the end of lunch they stood up together. Almost as though Fred were afraid to ask, (well, he was. He's asking out his crush, for Merlin's sake.) He offered his arm to Rachael. Rachael took it.

And from that moment on, there was an unspoken agreement between the two of them that they were together.

**Well, they're together. I'm actually rather sad about that, because that means that this story is almost to an end. But don't worry, because guess what- THERE'S GOING TO BE A SEQUEL! It'll focus on Fred's- well, I'll just let you find out. But I can promise that there will be some getting back to Hogwarts (bonus points if you get that reference) and some major evil doing. I think I'm actually more excited about the sequel than I am this story, because this story is basically just saying how everything came to be in the sequel. So I guess you could call this the prequel? Oh great, I'm rambling again. Anyway, I'd like to give a huge thank you to my viewers, reviewers, favoriters, etc on this story. It'll be done in maybe three chapters. It's not very long, I know. Au revoir, little biscuits! **


	4. Chapter Three

**WARNING! This is the second update of the day!**

**If**

**Chapter Three**

It is now one year after Fred and Rachael got together. Rachael has found a well paying job at St. Mungo's, and WWW is doing more than well.

Fred and George were sitting in the backroom of WWW, talking about many different things, such as the economy and weddings that were happening to their old school mates, like Oliver Wood and Katie Bell.

Soon the conversation lapsed into silence. Then George broke it. "Have you thought about popping the question to Rachael yet?"

Fred started, not having expected that question. "What? I- but- no. Why?"

George sighed. "Look. Ang and I have been married for a month, right?"

Fred nodded. George and Angelina had announced their engagement two months ago, and then had been married a month.

"So, we dated about a year. Mum and dad dated a year. Bill and Fleur… well… they're happy together, and they dated for maybe half a year? The point is, Freddie, you've dated Rachael longer than any of our married family has dated."

Fred mulled over what George had said for a while, and then nodded. "You're right. But the thing is, I don't know how to ask her."

George grinned. "That's no problem. Just do it the only way you know how- the Fred Weasley way."

Well, Fred had done it. He popped the question. And what a way to pop the question.

He had charmed fireworks to spell out "Rachael, will you marry me?"

Rachael had responded with a resounding "YES!"

His mother had burst into tears, his dad had smiled brilliantly, and his siblings, Harry and Hermione included, had all clapped him on the back and said "Finally!" Preparations for the wedding began immediately.

Rachael's family had come to the Burrow for the wedding. Rachael's mom, Susan, her father, Matthew, her twin brother, Roger, and her great aunt Muriel had all come down to see the marriage.

Fred and Rachael had laughed at the fact that both of their great aunt Muriels were almost exactly alike.

But now it was the actual day of the wedding.

The guests were all in rainbow colors, and dressed in whatever they wanted, as neither Rachael nor Fred enjoyed dressing up.

Fred had counted on being able to wear what he wanted on calming his nerves, but it was failing. He was more nervous than ever.

He was on the verge of throwing up when Rachael entered, gliding along on the arm of her father. Just seeing her, calm and beautiful, did wonders on Fred's nerves. As she came to stand beside him, he was no longer nervous, and the rest of the wedding went just as planned. The service hurried along, and George set off fireworks when the little tufty haired wizard who had done Bill and Fleur's wedding, and talked about Dumbledore at Dumbledore's funeral proclaimed Fred and Rachael married.

And at that moment, Fred knew he would never be happier than he was right then.

**Sorry about the giant time skips in this chapter! I'm also sorry that it's really short and not much pertains to the planning and set up of the wedding. I've only been to one wedding that I can remember, and I was really little, so there's not a ton for me to go off of. Anyway, next up you get to meet TWO of the characters in the sequel! The sequel will be called Back to Hogwarts. I'll try to get the next chapter up quickly! Au revoir, little biscuits!**


	5. Chapter Four

**I give you… Fred's kids!**

**If**

**Chapter Four**

Childbirth is not fun.

That was the thought running through Fred's head at that point. Rachael had been in labor for sixteen hours now, giving birth to twins.

Both Rachael and Fred had known this was going to be a hard birth. One of the twins was going to be born butt first. Nothing the Healers at St. Mungo's tried turned that baby around.

What Fred and Rachael _hadn't _counted on was the fact that the butt first baby (they had elected not to know the gender until the babies was born) wanted to be born first. Everybody, including the Healers, expected the normal baby to be born first. But apparently that wasn't the case.

Fred paced around the hallway outside Rachael's room. He had been told to take a break and to stop worrying, Rachael would be fine. But he knew he wouldn't be fine until Rachael had the twins.

He paced around for another five minutes, until he heard a high pitched wail. He thought nothing of it, still in that zone where you can think of nothing else but that one thing that is stressing you out. He snapped out of it, about five minutes later, when another high pitched wail joined the first. A Healer poked her head out of the room, smiling. "Mr. Weasley? Why don't you come in and meet your children."

Fred grinned, and walked into the room, where Rachael was holding two bundles.

"Meet your son and daughter." Rachael said, showing him his children.

"They're perfect." he breathed, hardly daring to believe that these beautiful children were his.

"What are we going to name them?" Rachael asked, smiling gently.

"Well… I was thinking for the boy, maybe Jack?" he suggested.

Rachael nodded, smiling widely. "And for the girl?"

Fred thought for a moment, and then suggested "Elise?"

"Perfect." Rachael said.

"What about middle names?" Fred queried.

"How about Tyler for Jack and Mackenzie for Elise?"

"That sounds great." Fred nodded.

**(A/N Don't you just hate having to do time skips?)**

Jack and Elise were now at home, where they were the center of attention along with Harry and Ginny's son James and George and Angelina's son Jonathan **(A/N Yes, I know George's son's name is Fred, but I can't exactly do that now can I.) **But everybody called Jonathan Freddie, simply because he reacted more to the name Freddie than Jonathan. His middle name was Fred anyway.

**(ROAR! MORE TIME SKIPS!)**

On Jack and Elise's second birthday, Rachael found out she was a few weeks pregnant again. She told fred, and then they both got to tell the wonderful news to the twins the next day. Of course, the first question was "Is the baby going to be a boy or a girl?"

Neither Fred nor Rachael knew, and they ended up promising to take the twins to the appointment where they would be finding out whether it was a boy or a girl.

**So, the next chapter is the last one! This is where we get to meet Fred and Rachael's new kid, and then there will be a tiny epilogue at the end, and then we're onto- dare I say it- THE SEQUEL!**


	6. Chapter Five

**Arrows the Wolf is proud to present- The Final chapter of If**

**If**

**Chapter Five**

They were back in the hospital again.

This time it was different. The baby was almost in the world, and Rachael had only been in labor for about two hours.

Another thing that was different was that Jack and Elise were at the hospital with them.

Elise had been talking nonstop about her new little brother that she was going to get to the Healers that were off duty.

"And his name's gonna be Dylan, and Jack thinks he's gonna be a Hufflepuff when he goes to Hogwarts cause Jack says that his invisible friend named Dylan is in Hufflepuff. Mum thinks he's going to be really smart and go into Ravenclaw cause both Mum and Daddy are really smart. Daddy says he hopes Dylan will be a Gryffindor cause daddy was a Gryffindor."

Jack, on the other, was excited too, but he just expressed his feelings by smiling constantly.

Less than three hours of labor later, little Dylan George Weasley was born. He was given a clean bill of health, and the next day the happy family of five was on its way to the Burrow to see Ginny's new son Albus Severus Potter and Ron and Hermione's daughter Rose.

When put together, the three new babies were pretty much instant best friends.

Dylan, Jack, and Elise grew up through the years, almost always getting along, except for a few skirmishes over broomsticks and Qudditch teams, and a couple of pranks Dylan and Jack pulled on Elise.

At age eight Elise was deemed a Ravenclaw incomer when she managed to read the dictionary of potion ingredients and make a perfectly Swelling Solution.

Jack was considered a prime candidate for Gryffindor, along with his best friends James and Freddie.

And Dylan, well, nobody really knew where Dylan was going to go when he got to Hogwarts. He had qualities of all four houses. He was smart, brave, able to slither out of situations, and very caring.

And so the time came for Dylan, last of Fred's kids, to go to Hogwarts.

As Dylan climbed onto the Hogwarts express, he found a young person who looked very similar to a portrait his Uncle Harry had hanging up. Not until later did Dylan learn that this young man had the same secret as the person in the portrait.

Fred watched Dylan talk to the secret hiding boy, and smiled. Dylan, even though he didn't know what house he would be sorted into, had already found what seemed to be a true friend.

***sobs slightly* OMG you guys. I finished it. I finished If. I don't know what to think about that. Oh well. I will dedicate the first chapter of Back to Hogwarts to you if you figure out what secret Dylan's new friend is hiding. I have a couple other stories I'm working on right now, so Back to Hogwarts may not be up for a while. Sorry. Anyway, thanks to all viewers, reviewers, favoriters, etc. you guys are amazing.**


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